Underground (BASILICA) CIstern

The Basilica Cistern, or Cisterna Basilica, Turkish: Yerebatan Sarnıcı or Yerebatan Sarayı, "Subterranean Cistern" or "Subterranean Palace"), is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The cistern, located 150 metres (490 ft) southwest of the Hagia Sophia on the historical peninsula of Sarayburnu, was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Today it is kept with little water, for public access inside the space.

This subterranean cistern was called Basilica because it was located under a large public square, the Stoa Basilica, on the First Hill of Constantinople. Prior to its construction, a great basilica stood on the spot. It had been built during the Early Roman Age between the 3rd and 4th centuries as a commercial, legal and artistic centre. The basilica was reconstructed by Illus after a fire in 476.

Ancient texts indicated that the basilica cistern contained gardens surrounded by a colonnade that faced the Hagia Sophia. According to ancient historians, Emperor Constantine built a structure that was later reconstructed and enlarged by Emperor Justinian after the Nika riots of 532, which devastated the city.

Historical texts claim that 7,000 slaves were involved in the construction of the cistern.

The enlarged cistern provided a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople and other buildings on the First Hill, and continued to provide water to the Topkapı Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 and into modern times.

The existence of the cistern was eventually forgotten by all but the locals who still drew water from it until, in 1565, the French traveller Petrus Gyllius left a record of it. Gyllius recorded being rowed in between the columns and seeing fish swimming in the water beneath the boat.

The Basilica Cistern is part of the "Historic Areas of Istanbul," a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. Nationally, it is protected under Turkey's Law No. 2863 on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Property as a 1st-degree archaeological site.

This classification restricts permanent alterations and mandates that all interventions be reversible and approved by the Istanbul No. 1 Cultural Heritage Preservation Board. In 2011, the board ordered the restriction of heavy vehicle traffic near the site to mitigate vibration-related damage.

The bases of two columns In the northwest corner of the cistern reuse blocks carved with the face of Medusa. The origin of the two heads is unknown, though it is thought that they were brought to the cistern after being removed from a building of the late Roman period. There is no evidence to suggest that they were previously used as column bases. Tradition has it that the blocks are oriented sideways and inverted in order to negate the power of the Gorgons' gaze.

The cistern was used as a location for the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love. In the film, it is referred to as having been constructed by the Emperor Constantine, with no reference to Justinian, and is fictitiously located under the Soviet consulate. In reality it is a long way away from the former Soviet consulate in Beyoğlu.

The cistern plays a key role in Dorothy Dunnett's historical novel Pawn in Frankincense, fourth volume of The Lymond Chronicles.

In the fantasy series The Old Kingdom, the reservoir beneath the palace in Belisaere was inspired by the cistern.

The finale of the 2009 film The International takes place in a fantasy amalgam of the Old City, depicting the Basilica Cistern as lying beneath the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, which, in the film, is directly adjacent to the Süleymaniye Mosque.

In the 2011 video game, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, the player-controlled character, Ezio Auditore, is given the chance to explore a section of this cistern in a memory sequence entitled The Yerebatan Cistern.

The cistern also features in Jean-Baptiste Andrea's film thriller Brotherhood of Tears. In the sequence, the lead character, acting as a transporter (played by Jeremie Renier), delivers a suitcase to a mysterious client 

The cistern with its inverted Medusa pillar featured in the 2013 Dan Brown novel Inferno

The cistern is featured in Age of Empires IV as one of the two Castle Age Landmarks of the Byzantines, named Cistern of the First Hill.